Anyone who thinks of a collection of irrelevant texts when they hear the keyword “school newspaper” that they buy more out of solidarity with their classmates than out of real interest in reading, only to then quickly let them disappear into a corner of the teenager’s room: yes, they haven’t had one for a long time School newspaper bought more. We – the editors of the JOpinion – proven.
A school newspaper is a project full of possibilities. It can report on current affairs and be a medium of communication for the whole school. And the editors gather both journalistic and organizational experience. A project that is really worth all the effort. That’s why we want to tell you a trick or two for an attractive, digital school newspaper.
At the beginning you should first consider which medium is the right one for you: Do you always want to publish cutting-edge articles? Then a digital version is definitely an advantage. In the case of timeless texts, however, an analogue version is also interesting. However, this is where the next difficulty arises: What would you like to write about? And who is responsible for what?
In general, it is important to know that there are not only writing editors in a school newspaper. You also need people who take care of images, layout and organization. In the JOpinion There are two students who have specialized in photos, but in principle everyone can also write texts. The layout is in a firm hand. In addition, the following applies to us: Everyone writes what interests him or her. There are regular authors for some sections, but everyone can contribute anywhere. This helps the newspaper to be livelier and more interesting, and all articles are written with passion and joy.
In terms of content, current topics can always be taken up, whether political, social, school or cultural. And we don’t always want to report neutrally, for example, but also write about topics that annoy us, impress us, concern us or make us happy – in line with our slogan “everything that moves us”.
Most students read them JOpinion via their smartphone, legibility and clarity are therefore elementary in a digital school newspaper. To do this, we focused on a clear design for the layout, which arouses interest with colorful photos and guides you through our texts with six clear sections.
Finding a good mix is crucial: the articles should be as diverse as the members and readership of the school newspaper are. This usually happens automatically due to the different interests within the editorial team. Nevertheless, it should be ensured that not all articles deal with a similar topic, so that there is something exciting for everyone. You can report on internal school news as well as take up international topics. Funny posts are just as welcome as serious ones. The articles should also differ in the text form: interviews are appropriate for some topics, reports, long reports or a column for others – and some members of the editorial team may want to play with language more and write an essay.
Coordination is needed to keep track of who is working on what. It is advisable to set up an editor-in-chief consisting of one or two students and a teacher. In addition to an editorial chat, there should definitely be regular editorial meetings to plan new issues together and to work on texts and topics. The newspaper thrives on this form of exchange and cooperation!
One last tip: Don’t be discouraged if everything isn’t going smoothly. It is quite normal that sometimes surprising difficulties arise when writing, that the carefully worked out schedule does not work out or that only a few people are aware of the school newspaper despite numerous advertising strategies. In such cases, perseverance is required, because one thing is certain: if you are passionate about it, a school newspaper will definitely be a great win for all parties. And that makes us JOpinion a lot of fun!
Sophia Ganter and Laura Einsiedl are editors-in-chief of the online blog JOpinion (Johannes-Heidenhain-Gymnasium, Traunreut).